CLIENTS

Managing Partner, the leading Nordic law firm

We have engaged Katinka for various training and coaching sessions, including management training for our new partners and personal coaching of our more senior partners. Over the years, we have tried numerous management and leadership courses for our partners but we have never been really satisfied with the quality. Having worked with Katinka for almost a year now, we are however extremely pleased with her work for us. Instead of trying to apply general management theories to our business, Katinka has made a great effort to learn and understand the specific culture and values of our firm and used this knowledge for tailor made individual coaching sessions with our partners. This has added great value to us and after only a few sessions, not only have our partners increased their leadership skills but also become interested in personal development of themselves as leaders as well as increased their motivation to in turn develop our associates into future leaders. In short, Katinka offers an unrivalled leadership development.

Stuart Martin, Partner, Dechert LLP

Thank you for the workshop. I thought it was terrific in terms of content, interest, relevance and presentation – well done!

Tom Bradley, Principal, DN Capital

I hired Katinka Nicou in 2010 to help us assess the potential of the management team of one of our target portfolio companies. Katinka provided feedback on the team members’ leadership profiles, capability, group dynamics and decision making. She also advised us on proactive measures to mitigate future risks and enable the potential of the team in consideration of the company’s growth projections, and provided helpful recommendations for management development. I would recommend Katinka to other Venture Capital and Private Equity firms looking to include management assessment as part of their due diligence efforts.

Jane Davison, Head of Resourcing, Barclays Bank

The exercise on how different people think really opened my eyes about some challenging work relationships. I found the techniques of how to build rapport faster with new contacts or difficult stakeholders valuable. The course was informative, helpful and relevant. It raises awareness of different personality styles and increased my own self-awareness.

This offsite was a really great opportunity to focus on achieving top performance as a team. We came away with a manageable set of actions and personal commitments that I feel motivated to follow through on and and ensure are delivered.

Nick Smith, Managing Director, Management Consulting, Accenture

I have experienced a range of executive coaches and Katinka brings a unique approach and perspective to the discipline. More than just demonstrating her empathy and commercial experience, we were able to properly assess what mattered to me, how to respond to the choices presented and how to create outcomes with greater certainty which benefitted both my organisation and me. The experience was enlightening and I have carried both the learning’s and some of the techniques forward with me.

Catherine Ablott, Global Head of Market Data Services, Deutsche Bank

I enjoyed working with Katinka on several people development initiatives. In particular she stepped in to present a training session on Coaching to a large number of MDs, Ds and VPs at very short notice when the trainer was unable to make it. The session was lively and engaging and all coaches and coachees left with clear knowledge of what was expected of them. We also worked together on a Talent Survey for the group at the time and setting up Employee and Manager forums to give staff the opportunity to voice their opinions on what could be done to improve people development. Again these sessions were lively and engaging and produced a great deal of useful information that was then used by management to develop our people development strategy.

Mikael Ståhl, Partner, Vinge

This was better than similar seminars. Katinka understood our business and the relationship with our clients well. I found the group discussions valuable, which Katinka led as an excellent moderator.

Daniel Rosvall, Partner, Vinge

The program contributed to an increased understanding of how different personalities act and react in situations and on communications, which will help in day to day work both among colleagues and clients. By being reminded of what my personality carries in respect of leadership skills, in particular the weaker sides, I am in a better position to improve them. Attending the program resulted in valuable reflection on how and why you act as you do in your professional role, and included some good input in respect of Generation Y. I would recommend my colleagues to participate.

Hannah Gröndahl, Attorney, BBRT Partners

I participated in a two-day tailored seminar run by Katinka in May 2015, together with law firm colleagues. What impressed me the most was that Katinka had really done her homework on our industry – who we are, who our competition is, and who our clients are. So her advice and helpful suggestions were actually very relevant – and had the extra bonus of sometimes being just “different” enough to get us conservative lawyers to consider another perspective, to debate and to analyse ideas that have worked well in other analagous industries (such as strategy consulting, which is probably decades ahead of law firms when it comes to organizational and strategic thinking). Katinka is also very good at taking what people say and re-positioning it in such a way that it drive the discussion and debate forward. I think all of us came away re-charged and inspired.

I do very much appreciate each of our coaching sessions, and the thoughtfulness and insights Katinka has brought to them.

Raj Panasar, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

I valued Katinka’s input tremendously. She has a canny knack of translating behaviour into productivity, which I found very powerful. Fundamentally, Katinka cared about the objectives and the process, and when someone is working with you who cares as much as she does, it has a significantly positive impact on the programme. She successfully raised self-awareness levels among partners and associates without any trace of judgement. I highly recommend her.

Pascal Lauffer, CIO, NewEdge (Société Générale)

Fimat Americas Information Technology department underwent a drastic change of organization in 2007. As CIO I was not only concerned by the change of structure, but I was also concerned by the impact on people. For example, we had to change most of the roles and job descriptions. To help us go through this difficult and sometimes traumatic period, I decided to use Integrate OD to help with the human aspect. I was delighted with the support provided in terms of dedication, theoretical frameworks and practical tools to support us in the change process. Using Integrate OD certainly helped us make this change of organization a success.

Andre Odendaal, Head of CIA IT, NewEdge (Société Générale)

Katinka provided me with an accurate personality profile, followed up with personal assistance in how to communicate with various personality styles, and provided counselling on the development of my weaker team profiles needed to improve effectiveness in my workplace. Katinka also effectively acted as an independent counsellor in discussing and advising on personal goals and growth opportunities.

I was very impressed with the way Katinka translated her organizational effectiveness experience into commercial, relevant and practical solutions for us. She showed great judgment when interacting across all levels of the firm and was able to build solid relationships over a relatively short time frame. I very much look forward to working with Katinka again.

Steven Miyao, CEO, Kasina

In a company such as ours, always growing and changing, it can be difficult for a newcomer to assess with what approach to begin. In this regard, Katinka understands that a company is a vastly complex entity, but rather than find this daunting, she finds solutions that work on all levels: from bottom to top, from the individual to the corporation, from the practical to the theoretical. In constantly drawing connections between all of these elements, Ms. Nicou teaches companies to better understand the inter-relatedness of these elements and how to address all of them at once. Her approach worked wonders for us and we learned to follow her recommendations with enthusiasm. They always reaped such positive results. Ms. Nicou worked with us closely on improving and strengthening team processes: we saw a marked improvement in productivity and morale besides. Today, Kasina employees benefit by individual coaching by Ms. Nicou, and we are confident that we will enjoy tremendous results yet again.

Catherine Mullaly, President and CEO, CMC Group LLC

The exercise of visualizing the future was pivotal for me and I feel that life has guided me toward the fulfillment of exactly that. Isn’t life exquisite?

Maggie Mistal, Head of Training and Development, Martha Stewart Omnimedia

Katinka was very thorough in her work with Martha Stewart Omnimedia, thinking things through from top to bottom. She has the unique ability to see the big picture without losing sight of important details. She thinks strategically and logically. She understands business needs and challenges and is able to articulate and devise programs to address the implications on people.